Improvement in under-skirts



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E.'D. SMITH.

UNDERSKIRT. No. 179,738. Patented. July 11, 1876.

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WITNESSES NvFETERS, PHOWLITHOGHAPHER, WASHINGION, D C.

on before the bands are.

EDWIN n. SMITH,HOF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN UNDER-SKIRTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 179,738, dated July 11, 1876; application filed April 18, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWIN D. SMITH, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Dress and Under-Skirt for Ladies Wear, of which the following is a specification:

The objects are, first, to simplify and cheapen' the flounces and ruffles and mode of attaching them, so as to economize labor and material; and, second, to make the lower and upper portions in separate parts, and connect them in a simple way, so that cheaper goods may be used for the upper part, and the lower part may be taken oft readily for washing and be easily attached again.

The flounces and rnflies are commonly made of bias pieces cut of the same material as the skirt, and worked at the ends, and the upper. edges are covered with a strip or band, which is also made of short bias pieces cut off from the goods and sewed together at the ends, and hemmed on both sides, and the flounces and ruffles are hemmed on the lower edge.

My invention consists of the employment of ruffle, flounce, and binding bands, which are produced by specially weaving them in thebreadths required, and in the style and character corresponding to the goods, and without raw edges, and in sewing them on without hemming and binding, which are not required, thereby saving the labor of hemming and waste of material, and also saving the seams by which the ruffles and flounces are sewed These kinds of bands and flounces feed much better to the machine than. those commonly used, so that there is no difficulty of feeding both the ruflie or flounce and the band at the same time, and I use a machine with two needles, and thus sew the band along both edges at the same time.

This mode of covering the seams may be applied to the seam by which the upper and lower parts of the material are joined when made in two parts, and the band around the waist may be put on in the same way; but for joining the two parts I propose to use metal clasps, with a head of glass or metal for the outside to be ornamented.

Figure 1 isa side elevation of a portion of a skirt constructed according to the common arrangement, and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation. Fig. 3 is'a side elevation of a skirt constructed according to my invention. Fig. 4

elevations and sections of a skirt with different arrangements of trimming made according to my invention. Figs. 7 and 8 are side elevations and sections of a skirt made in the common way, but with different arrangements of the trimming.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In Figs. 1 and 2, A is the body of the skirt, to which a heavy binding, B, is sewed at the lower edge, for protecting the raw edge, and rendering it stiff, and giving it sufficient body. 0 is a fiounce, which is cut out of the goods of which the body is made, hemmed on the edges D, and sewed on the body A at the upper edge. E represents bands, also out out of the goods, hemmed on the edges F, and sewed along both edges to the body A, and also to the upper edge of flounce O. G is a ruffle, made similarly to flounce O, and other bands, H, are sewed on in various posi tious, all of which make a great amount of work in cutting, preparing, arranging, and sewing on the body, besides great waste of material in the heins and the thread for sewing them on, and the waste pieces made by the cuttings, much of whichl propose to economize by weaving the flounce 0, ruffles G, and bands in the width required, and in the style of the body of the skirt, and with margins to represent binding at the upper edges of the flounces and ruffles, also weaving cord J in the lower edge of the flounce O to give the body required, and sewing on the flounces and raffles without the bands, and without hemming the edges, which are finished in the weaving, so as not to require it, andI propose to weave strips in'dit't'erent colors along the upper edges of the flounces to represent binding, and thus save the application of separate binding-strips.

Thus I. not only economize largely in both material and labor, but also make a better and more desirable skirt.

The invention is also applicable to skirts made of felt, in which case the flounces, &c., will be manufactured in the size and shape 1s a section of Fig. 3. Figs. 5 and .6 are side wanted, according to the same plan, instead of being cut and bound at the edges.

Inferior goods may be used for the upper parts L of the skirt, as that part does not require washing as much as the lower part;

wherefore I propose to make them separately,

and for connecting them, so that they can be readily attached and detached, I propose to use metallic clasps- M, with metal, glass, or other heads, N, capable of ornamentation, so as to serve at the same time for making handsome trimmings.

In Figs. 5, 6, 7, and8 the arrangements of the trimmings are somewhat modified; but the essential points of the invention are illustrated all the same.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Paten t- The combination of flounce G, ruffles G, and bands H, all woven with margins and cord, substantially as shown and described, for the purpose specified.

EDWIN D. SMITH. Witnesses:

T. B. MOSHER, ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

